The Stupid Question Thread-GRRM [Spoilers]

I have a question to ask, and I suspect it's a pretty dumb one - so I thought I'd mitigate the pain of this by offering you, my esteemed colleagues, a thread in which you could do the same. I can't be the only one who seems to have missed something, with material this rich and convoluted. Here's my dopey question:

Who is Lord Lannister now? Tywin's dead, Jaime is still a sworn Kingsguard and therefore can't inherit, Tyrion damn sure can't inherit (given the circumstances of his father's passing), Lancel's gone a bit strange; is Kevan now holding Casterly Rock? And if so, what does this mean for succession - aren't the Lannisters actually in a terribly vulnerable position here? Even if Kevan has taken the helm, he isn't up to much, and his sons are either potty or young; a few well placed stilettos, and House Lannister could be over and done with...

The bureaucracy attends to the day-to-day running of Casterly Rock, the castellan etc. Cersei is Lady of the Rock. Kevan is outside the line of inheritance until Cersei and all her issue die. I believe the title will pass to Tommen, although if the king can't be lord of another site at the same time, it will pass to Myrcella, I believe.

I have a stupid question. There has been a few years gap between when I read Storm and when I read Feast, so my memory of everything was foggy. They mention in Feast the Rains of Castamere (sp?) song again, and near the end there is a bard and Jamie asks his name, and it is somehow significant, or something... That just went right over my head. I cannot remember for the life of me what the Rains of Castamere was about, why it galled Lord Tywin, and what was the big deal about this bard. Maybe someone with a memory, or who has read the books over many times can help (I'm just waiting for the entire series to be completed before I do my re-read.)

The Rains of Castamere is about House Reyne of Castamere Castle, who was one of two families (the other being the Tarbecks of Tarbeck Hall) sworn to Casterly Rock who didn't bother paying their dues to House Lannister and got away with it because of the weakness of Tywin and Kevan's father. When he was still young, Tywin destroyed both castles and executed the leaders of both families, turning the others into penniless smallfolk. The Rains of Castamere is a tribute to Tywin's ruthless efficiency.

Edmure Tully hates the song because it was the one playing when the Red Wedding took place and Robb and Catelyn Stark and many of their bannermen were wiped out. The bard at the end of AFFC is the same bard who stole the affections of a woman whom Edmure was chasing after, so his presence really pisses Edmure off. Naturally Jaime does this on purpose (not knowing that the bard is also an agent of the Brotherhood Without Banners).

First off..If Kevan had got his way..he would have been running Casterly as castellan...Which would have made him a sitting lord in all but name..He had a falling out with Cersei..They didn't agree with eachother's terms....Cersei pretty much dropped him after that..So just who is running what is arguable..The most wealthy part of the kingdom? That question is kinda up in the air...and this thread is the perfect place to ask and answer such questions that may or may not be irrelevant.

Easy. 'Van' is short for 'vanguard', which is the part of the army which will make first contact with the enemy. It is often called the 'leading division' of the army. It can also refer to the leading ship or squadron in a fleet engagement.

Some generals lead from the van (Robert Baratheon, Robb Stark and Jaime Lannister) as they like to be in the thick of the fighting and inspire their men. Others, like Tywin Lannister, prefer to remain behind the lines and orchestrate the battle.

Yes, I always just thought the van was the front of an army, particularly the front of a charge. I used to think it was hilarious in Lord of the Rings, when Tolkien would say something like "Gandalf and Aragorn rode in the van". I would picture thousands of horses charging across an open field, being led by Gandalf driving in a Volkswagen hippie van.

Here's one..How long a book will A Dance With Dragons be when it comes out? About the size of A Storm Of Swords maybe? I'd like for it to be or even longer...however Martin has pointed out the problems that come with publishing very large books..A number of times.

A Storm of Swords was 1550-odd manuscript pages, which is beyond the limit that Voyager can publish in one volume and approaching the limit that Bantam can handle. A Game of Thrones and A Feast for Crows were both approximately 1100 MS pages long and A Clash of Kings was around 1200-1300.

GRRM has already said that he plans for A Dance with Dragons to be about 1200 MS pages, or about the length of ACoK.

It should be pointed out that other publishers could handle larger books. In the US Tor routinely publish books of that size or larger, and in the UK Pan Books has no problems putting Peter F. Hamilton's monster blockbuster SF novels (five of which have been 1200 pages long or longer) in one volume (although the US publishers have had to split them).

Searched for threads, thought this was as good as any, but can anyone spoiler tag what happened to Tyrion at the end of SOS, I remember most of it, but there is a piece or two missing from my memory.
Thank ya kindly

With the loss of his champion, Tyrion was declared guilty and placed in a Black Cell in the third sublevel of dungeons in Maegor's holdfast (where Ned Stark had been kept). However, late on the first night of this captivity, Tyrion was secretly freed from his prison cell by his brother Jaime and a reluctant Varys. During their escape, when Tyrion thanked Jaime, Jaime revealed that he had owed this to Tyrion. In his explanation, Jaime recalled that their father had made him lie about Tysha being a prostitute, and that she was exactly what she seemed: a crofter's daughter who had genuinely loved Tyrion. Jaime suggested that Tywin rationalized this brutality and deception by saying that Tysha was so poor and to wed a Lannister was tantamount to whoring herself for the family's wealth. This news devastated Tyrion unlike any insult or act of aggression he had suffered at his family's hands. Tyrion abandoned Jaime, promising retribution if they ever met again. To hurt Jaime, he also revealed that Cersei was "a lying whore" who was "****ing Lancel, Osmund Kettleblack, and Moon Boy for all I know," and (falsely) claimed that he had indeed poisoned Joffrey. This shocked Jaime and may have lead to the first significant doubts and feelings of contempt that Jaime eventually began to feel for Cersei (as evident in A Feat for Crows). Before leaving the castle, Tyrion visited his father's room via the secret tunnels and, to his horror, found Shae naked and alone in his father's bed, wearing his chain of the office of the Hand around her neck. When Tyrion confronted her, she begged his forgiveness for betraying and humiliating him at the trial. But Tyrion, full of hatred, strangled her (with the Hand's chain) nonetheless. He then set out to look for his father. Before leaving the bedchambers, Tyrion took a crossbow from the wall and loaded it. He found his father sitting on the privy and confronted him (aiming the crossbow at him), demanding that he tell him what became of Tysha, his wife and love. Tywin asserted that he had not killed her but sent her away with her earnings. Tywin referred to her repeatedly as a "whore", leading Tyrion to warn his father that his next use of that word would mean his death (even then Tywin would not take his son seriously, saying "You do not possess the courage"). After Tyrion's repeated efforts to learn Tysha's whereabouts, Tywin said dismissively that she had gone "Wherever whores go." With that Tyrion fired at his father's chest just as he began to stand from the privy, and the bolt stuck him in the bowels. With his last words, he disowned Tyrion as his son. Tyrion escaped the way he had come, to a ship that awaited him on the river, which Varys had prepared for him.

Tyrion has since fled across the narrow sea, his motives unknown even to himself. In an excerpt from A Dance with Dragons on Martin's website it is revealed that Tyrion is currently in Pentos and is staying with Illyrio Mopatis.[2] In this excerpt, Tyrion somewhat rhetorically asks several characters: "Where do whores go?" It is implied that his thoughts are still with Tysha, as his question appears to relate to his father's final explanation of her whereabouts.

Thanks Mith, Yeah I could not remember why Tyrion was in prison. The Joffrey thing, lol. He killed Shae too, right? The Wikipedia says strangled her with the Hands necklace, but I didn't remember him finishing her off. Tywin and Shae got what they deserved. Still remember and love that last comment about Tywin and "gold".
God, I should reread these.